Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Good news is... I am writing this from Lhasa
It was NOT easy to get here. But I am going to save the whole story for Tim to tell you, as most of the negotiating, running, and sweating were on him.
I can start from the point when we left the airport together yesterday (at one point, Tim left before me) and boarded the bus with our bikes and our group and drove into Lhasa, which typical to Chinese airports, is located 75km outside of the city.
Tibet is gorgeous. The skies are the blue you only see when you are at altitude - deep, rich, clear. There are mountains on all sides everywhere we have been. The rivers are clear blue. Colorful, intricate Tibetan style motifs surround the doors and windows of white washed buildings, and the clear air intensifies the reds, blues and golds. The people are colorful too, their long black braids have beads and colorful string woven through and their rosy cheeks still show through their dark skin. We saw all this through the windows of the bus on our way into Lhasa.
Lhasa itself has been Chineseified, big time. Beijing Lu is the main thuroughfare through town, and all other streetsigns show chinese privince names in three languages (Jiangsu Rd, in Tibetan, Chinese and English). The city center seems to be Potala Palace, built by the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century. We visited this morning and found it fantastic - by far the best preserved sight we have been to in China. Totally better than the forbidden city, but don't tell Beijing. ;-) We also visited a monestary, also colorful, intricate and gorgeous. Tim is worried about his 9G limit on photos!
These 3 days in Lhasa are to be spent acclimatizing, which our group definitely needs. I was sick last night, probably a combination of stress, exhaustion, and the altitude, but after a good 10 hours night sleep I feel much better. I am not ready to hop on my bike yet, though! Other guys are sick today. Give it a few more days. Our bikes seem to have made it here in one piece. Well, 95% - Tim's front disk for his brakes is slightly bent and he is working on that now.
It is such a relief to be here, after all the drama. We are looking forward to the rest of our trip - hopefully we have been through the worst of it, and all that are left are the challenges we signed up for!
I can start from the point when we left the airport together yesterday (at one point, Tim left before me) and boarded the bus with our bikes and our group and drove into Lhasa, which typical to Chinese airports, is located 75km outside of the city.
Tibet is gorgeous. The skies are the blue you only see when you are at altitude - deep, rich, clear. There are mountains on all sides everywhere we have been. The rivers are clear blue. Colorful, intricate Tibetan style motifs surround the doors and windows of white washed buildings, and the clear air intensifies the reds, blues and golds. The people are colorful too, their long black braids have beads and colorful string woven through and their rosy cheeks still show through their dark skin. We saw all this through the windows of the bus on our way into Lhasa.
Lhasa itself has been Chineseified, big time. Beijing Lu is the main thuroughfare through town, and all other streetsigns show chinese privince names in three languages (Jiangsu Rd, in Tibetan, Chinese and English). The city center seems to be Potala Palace, built by the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century. We visited this morning and found it fantastic - by far the best preserved sight we have been to in China. Totally better than the forbidden city, but don't tell Beijing. ;-) We also visited a monestary, also colorful, intricate and gorgeous. Tim is worried about his 9G limit on photos!
These 3 days in Lhasa are to be spent acclimatizing, which our group definitely needs. I was sick last night, probably a combination of stress, exhaustion, and the altitude, but after a good 10 hours night sleep I feel much better. I am not ready to hop on my bike yet, though! Other guys are sick today. Give it a few more days. Our bikes seem to have made it here in one piece. Well, 95% - Tim's front disk for his brakes is slightly bent and he is working on that now.
It is such a relief to be here, after all the drama. We are looking forward to the rest of our trip - hopefully we have been through the worst of it, and all that are left are the challenges we signed up for!
# posted by Laurel @ 5:20 PM 
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WONDERFUL!!!! Oh I am so excited to hear about your adventures and then see the photographic evidence. Just think, with the amazing photos, you'll have Christmas and birthday gifts for people for YEARS!! (hint hint!!) :):)
With regards to what you saw through the bus window- just imagine what it looked like from outside the bus. I can't imagine the bus windows were sparkling clean. It sounds so wonderful and as I was reading what you wrote, I just imagined you sitting on the bus, watching it all go by and trying to really soak it in to remember forever. Ahhhh....
And as far as sights go, pretty much most things are more amazing than the Forbidden City! I'm still bitter about how disappointed I was with FC... oh well.
And hearing how the altitude is affecting the adults makes me grateful that we did not go with Audrey in May. We'll save that for when the kids are teenagers I think.
Anyways, bummed to hear about the bent disk, but hey, that's not too bad right??!
Keep updating when possible. And Laurel, as the only lady represented on the trip, you go girl! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! And if you can remember, take a photo of something you think I would like to see and show it to me when you come back to Colorado, complete with a vividly detailed story. :)
With regards to what you saw through the bus window- just imagine what it looked like from outside the bus. I can't imagine the bus windows were sparkling clean. It sounds so wonderful and as I was reading what you wrote, I just imagined you sitting on the bus, watching it all go by and trying to really soak it in to remember forever. Ahhhh....
And as far as sights go, pretty much most things are more amazing than the Forbidden City! I'm still bitter about how disappointed I was with FC... oh well.
And hearing how the altitude is affecting the adults makes me grateful that we did not go with Audrey in May. We'll save that for when the kids are teenagers I think.
Anyways, bummed to hear about the bent disk, but hey, that's not too bad right??!
Keep updating when possible. And Laurel, as the only lady represented on the trip, you go girl! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! And if you can remember, take a photo of something you think I would like to see and show it to me when you come back to Colorado, complete with a vividly detailed story. :)
Side note...
I was just telling Joe that you guys got into Tibet and we were chatting about it a bit. A few minutes later, Audrey said, "Mommy, why were Tim and Warwel having trouble getting To-bet?" :):):) I started explaining the Chinese government and their long history with Tibet, but just stopped at "sometimes the Chinese government doesn't want people to go to Tibet." She seemed satisfied.
I was just telling Joe that you guys got into Tibet and we were chatting about it a bit. A few minutes later, Audrey said, "Mommy, why were Tim and Warwel having trouble getting To-bet?" :):):) I started explaining the Chinese government and their long history with Tibet, but just stopped at "sometimes the Chinese government doesn't want people to go to Tibet." She seemed satisfied.
I have been following your story about all the training, and all your struggles to get to Tibet for the past week. I've been praying things work out for you. I am so glad you guys were able to make it there (finally)!! I hope you guys get used to the altitude quickly and just have the best possible time biking through the beautiful outdoors. I'll keep praying that you have no issues getting back into China ;) Looking forward to hopefully seeing some pictures at some point.
you guys must be saints for dealing with all of that. I'm interested in reading how the trip went...
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